Baseball has played 73 All-Star Games since the first one
in 1933 at Chicago's Comiskey Park. No game has had as bizarre a finish as the
one played Tuesday night in Milwaukee's Miller Park.

The All-Star teams were tied 7-7 after 11 innings when
Commissioner Bud Selig, after consulting with managers Bob Brenly (National
League) and Joe Torre (American League), halted the game because each team had
run out of pitching.

The only other time an All-Star Game finished in a tie
was in 1961. The score was 1-1 when rain halted play after nine innings in Boston's
Fenway Park.

Some answers about the confusing night:

How many pitchers did each teamhave?

The AL had nine pitchers, five of them starters and four
relievers. The NL brought 10 pitchers, three of them starters.

Do managers plan for extra-inning games?

A manager decides in advance the order his pitchers will
enter the game. His goal is to get everyone into the game, keep it competitive
and avoid arm injuries. Managers also designate one starting pitcher to be held
back in case of extra innings. In the 1967 All-Star Game, which went 15 innings,
Catfish Hunter pitched the last five for the AL. Tom Seaver didn't even enter
the game until the 15th and pitched one inning. Sometimes the held-back player
doesn't get to pitch.

So what happened Tuesday night?

Baseball down
but still on top

Baseball
had its lowest-rated prime-time All-Star Game ever Tuesday, but it's still
tops among All-Star Games:

The game's final two pitchers, the AL's Freddy Garcia and
the NL's Vicente Padilla, were starters. Each pitched two innings. Padilla hadn't
pitched since Thursday, but he felt stiffness, always a danger sign for a pitcher,
warming up. Padilla only threw 25 pitches. Tuesday was Garcia's normal day to
throw between starts. He said he was feeling fine after throwing 31 pitches
and could have pitched up to five innings.

Was it Selig's decision to end the game?

Ultimately he had to make the final decision. Selig took
the blame, but he was going on the advice of the managers, who were nervous
about burning out Garcia and Padilla.

Are Brenly and Torre to blame?

These days, All-Star managers are in a bind. Because of
the money invested in players, they worry about injury. Managers are more concerned
with getting everyone into the game instead of winning the game.

What is more important: Winning or letting everyone
play?

Many fans interviewed after the game say they want to see
the best players play. They say big-league players shouldn't be treated like
Little Leaguers who might cry if they don't get in.

Would bigger rosters have helped?

Not as long as managers want to get every player in the
game. More players would only mean less playing time for the players the fans
really want to see.

Why did Torre use Oakland A's starter Barry Zito for
only one batter?

Tiebreaking
ideas

Baseball is examining ways to
avoid running out of pitchers in the All-Star Game. We offer some solutions:

Add a
minor league All-Star or two to each roster for extra-inning purposes:
Let them suit up and sit in the dugout with the big-leaguers. If the game
goes into extra innings, they pitch. If they don't play, they still will
be happy.

Play
to win: There's too much focus on getting everyone into the game.
Sooner or later that backfires, a team runs out of players and a tie game
is the result, just like Tuesday night.

Let a
position player pitch: Hey, it's not that dangerous if the guy throws
only fastballs. Baseball is overreacting on this. The position player
could be a reserve catcher who is used to throwing lots of times. We hear
Detroit's Robert Fick can throw a deadly sinker and Arizona's Damian Miller
has a nasty slider.

Add
a couple of days to the break: Make it five days. That would give
pitchers proper time to rest before the game and after so they could throw
four innings. It also would give All-Stars a couple of days off after
the game.

Increase
rosters by five: Then say those players can't be used until extra
innings. But many players would not want to be an "extra."

Mandate
12 pitchers a roster: Select a starter and a closer. Let the others
draw straws to determine who gets the extra-inning duties.

Make
starters pitch three innings: It won't hurt pitchers. It used to be
the norm.

Add
a sudden-death home run derby: Sammy Sosa vs. Jason Giambi? First
to five wins.

Add
a speed race: Let the fastest players on each team race around the
bases.

Deal
with it: The game had memorable plays, drama and good matchups, just
no decision. But who really cares who wins?

 Mel Antonen

Zito threw four pitches. He didn't pitch longer because
he had pitched Sunday. Torre had said before the selection process that he didn't
want to pick a player who pitched Sunday, but he changed his mind.

Didn't All-Star starters used to pitch more?

They used to pitch three innings. Since 1994 two has been
the limit. Into the 1980s All-Star managers used five or six pitchers a game.
Now managers feel they have to work in nine or 10. In 1986, at the All-Star
Game in Houston, each team used five pitchers. That year seven pitchers, three
from the AL and four from the NL, didn't get into the game. The trend of using
more pitchers began in 1989 at Anaheim.

Was bringing back another pitcher who had already pitched
an option?

No, never. Most pitchers who had worked early in the game
were already in the clubhouse, showered and changed. Once a pitcher cools down,
it is extremely dangerous to bring him back.

In blowouts during the regular season, position players
pitch. Why not in the All-Star Game?

Again, the answer is injury. No one wanted to risk having
a position player throw a curveball or try to blow a fastball by a batter in
the 10th inning. When Sandy Alderson, baseball's executive vice president of
operations, was asked about a position player pitching in an All-Star Game,
he answered in two words: "Jose Canseco." When Canseco played with the Texas
Rangers, he pitched an inning and hurt his arm. "Do you think we want to gamble
pitching a player that has a $25 million contract?" Alderson said.

The game had no MVP even though the award was renamed
to honor Ted Williams, who died last week. Why?

There were several candidates: The Minnesota Twins' Torii
Hunter for his breathtaking catch in the first inning, the San Francisco Giants'
Barry Bonds for his home run, the Houston Astros' Lance Berkman for his two
RBI and the Chicago White Sox's Paul Konerko for his two doubles. But Major
League Baseball told the six-member media panel that selects the MVP that none
would be chosen because the game did not have a winner.

Why didn't Fox TV have a postgame interview with Selig?

Fox President Ed Goren was in the commissioner's box in
the middle of the 11th inning when the decision was made and told Selig, "It's
your game, you do what you have to do." But he also requested Selig go on camera
after the game to explain it to the TV audience. Goren said Selig was in the
dugout waiting to do the interview with Fox reporter Jeanne Zelasko while they
were in a commercial break. "About 45 seconds before the break ended, Bud just
turned and left, saying he had to do a press conference," said Goren. "He just
bolted." Goren was not happy about the whole situation. "I think the commissioner
of the sport owes it to a television audience and the network that is the most
financially important corporate partner you have to provide an explanation."

Were the players upset?

While almost all of them said they would have preferred
an outcome, they also agreed that it wasn't worth risking an injury to a player.
"I don't think it's going to have a long-term impact on the integrity of the
sport," said Berkman.

Did this controversy hurt baseball?

It didn't help. Baseball has so many problems, given labor
and steroids, that it was the worst possible time to charge fans $175 a ticket
and not finish the game.